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France defends move to recognise Palestinian state / Photo: Ed JONES - POOL/AFP
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France defends move to recognise Palestinian state
France defended its decision to recognise Palestinian statehood amid domestic and international criticism on Friday, including against the charge that the move plays into the hands of militant group Hamas.
President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday that his country would formally recognise a Palestinian state during a UN meeting in September, the most powerful European nation to announce such a move.
Macron's announcement drew condemnation from Israel, which said it "rewards terror", while US President Donald Trump dismissed the decision as pointless.
"He's a very good guy, I like him, but that statement doesn't carry weight," Trump told reporters.
Mike Huckabee, US ambassador to Israel, earlier quipped that Macron did not say where a future Palestinian state would be located and suggested it would be called "Franc-en-Stine".
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, whose Fatah party is a rival of Hamas, however hailed Macron's decision as a "victory for the Palestinian cause".
Hamas itself -- which the United States and the European Union designate as a "terrorist" group -- praised the French initiative, saying it was "a positive step in the right direction toward doing justice to our oppressed Palestinian people".
- 'The side of peace' -
But French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Friday argued that Macron's initiative went against what the militant group wanted.
"Hamas has always ruled out a two-state solution. By recognising Palestine, France goes against that terrorist organisation," Barrot said on X.
With its decision, France was "backing the side of peace against the side of war", Barrot added.
France would be the most significant European country to recognise a Palestinian state.
Norway, Spain, Ireland and Slovenia all announced recognition following the outbreak of the Gaza conflict, along with several other non-European countries.
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said that a ceasefire would "put us on a path to the recognition of a Palestinian state".
But Germany said on Friday it had no plans to recognise a Palestinian state "in the short term".
Once France follows through on its announcement, a total of at least 142 countries will have recognised Palestinian statehood.
- 'Rushed' -
Domestic reactions ranged from praise on the left, condemnation on the right and awkward silence in the ranks of the government itself.
The leader of the far-right National Rally (RN), Jordan Bardella, said the announcement was "rushed" and afforded Hamas "unexpected institutional and international legitimacy".
Marine Le Pen, the RN's parliamentary leader, said the French move amounted to "recognising a Hamas state and therefore a terrorist state".
On the other side of the political spectrum, Jean-Luc Melenchon, boss of the far-left France Unbowed party, called Macron's announcement "a moral victory", although he deplored that it did not take effect immediately.
By September, Gaza could be a "graveyard", Melenchon said.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, a right winger whose relationship with Macron is tense, declined on Friday to give his opinion, saying he was busy with an unrelated "serious topic" linked to the "security of French people on holiday".
- 'Counter-productive', 'pointless' -
But the vice president of his Republicans party, Francois-Xavier Bellamy, called the move "counter-productive", if not "pointless".
He said it was a departure from the president's previously set conditions for recognition of Palestine, which included the disarming of Hamas, the movement's exclusion from any future government, the liberation of all Israeli hostages in Gaza, and the recognition of Israel by several Arab states.
"None of them have been met," he said.
Among people reacting to the news in the streets of Paris was Julien Deoux, a developer, who said it had been "about time" that France recognised Palestinian statehood.
"When you've been talking about two-state solutions for decades but you don't recognise one of the two states, it's a bit difficult," he told AFP.
But Gil, a 79-year-old pensioner who gave only his first name, said he felt "betrayed" by his president.
"As a Frenchman, I'm ashamed to see that tomorrow Hamas could come to power in the territory," he said.
burs-jh-ah/giv
T.Barbieri--INP
